Get Out Guide

Jam bands, skirt chasing, and going barefoot—it’s a weekend to write home about.

Published
Friday, August 6, 2010 at 12:08am

Nature After Hours Want to see Mother Nature shake her groove thing? Of course you do. So skip your happy hour plans downtown tonight and make a break for Tryon Creek State Park where you’re invited to sway amongst the firs and ferns to the beats of the spacey, jazz-funk ensemble Klickitat inside the open-air Jackson Shelter. Gnash on complimentary appetizers. Quaff a brew. Take an evening stroll by the creek. Just don’t forget to fish around in your pockets for a donation for Friends of Tryon Creek, which organized the event—and helped bust you out of the city for a night.

Skirt Chasers On any other weekend if the normally chaste Muddy Boot were to suggest that you spend your weekend in Vancouver chasin’ women, you might take offense. But Saturday morning presents an exception. Welcome to the Skirt Chaser 5K, a unique running race in which the ladies are granted a full five-minute head start on us gents. Now for the fun part. Us guys get to spend the race in hot pursuit of the gals, dashing down a three-mile course, which winds through Esther Short Park and Historic Fort Vancouver before ending in a block party near Salmon Creek Park, where, if your timing’s right, you’ll find a couple hundred sweaty women waiting for you to make your arrival. Gentleman—start your engines.

Kelley Point Park Cleanup You like wine. You like going barefoot. You like going barefoot and drinking wine. What you don’t like is doing so in a dirty park. Or for that matter, with your toes dangling in unkempt water. Take a stand against such buzz-killing scenarios with the Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project. Since 2007, the project has crisscrossed the country, hosting more than 35 beach cleanups, ecological educational tours, and more than a few parties, all in the name of keeping our beaches clean. This weekend’s target: NOPO’s Kelley Point Park, which hugs the banks of the Willamette River. Co-organized by Portland’s chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, you can expect plenty of other water lovers to be on hand, not to mention a post-party featuring a performance by iTunes chart-topper Eric Hutchison. And yeah, since you asked: No shirt? No shoes? No problem.

Providence Bridge Pedal So here it is in its 15th year, and you still haven’t saddled up to ride in the Providence Bridge Pedal. What gives? When else are you going to have a chance to pedal around on the top deck of the mighty Fremont Bridge? For anyone not yet initiated into this two-wheeled nirvana, there’s still time to hop aboard: Registration goes through Saturday. With a 10-, 7-, and 5-bridge loop, you’ll have your choice of courses and mileages. Want a route for the kiddos? You’ll find that, too. Don’t have a bike? There’s even a six-mile walking route. See you in the lineup.